Newcastle manager Sam Allardyce is determined to keep defender Steven Taylor on Tyneside despite his decision to reject a new contract offer.

The 21-year-old was away on international duty with England’s Under-21s last week but in his absence his father Alf, who represents the Greenwich-born player, revealed he had turned down the Magpies’ offer and voiced his disappointment at the financial package.

Allardyce said: “Steven Taylor is a key member of our squad. We want him to stay, apparently it sounds like he wants to stay, so hopefully we can resolve the problems. At the moment, we seem to be some way off, but we won’t get sucked into paying somebody that we think is asking for too much.”

The United boss added: “We want to give it a realistic look, and we have already started that process with the likes of Charles N’Zogbia, to push on to Nicky Butt and people like that who are in the last year of their contracts.

“That’s the next thing we have to do now that the window is shut. Hopefully very shortly, everybody will have agreed and we will have a much more settled camp.

“From my point of view, it’s always a little bit disturbing when people are talking about contracts while you are playing Premier League football. It can upset the player on the field, and that’s the last thing we want.”